THANK YOU By Oprah Winfrey

I live in the space of thankfulness - and I have been

rewarded a million times over for it. I started out

giving thanks for small things, and  the more thankful

I became, the more my bounty increased.

That's because what you focus on expands, and when you

focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of

it. Opportunities, relationships, even money flowed my

way when I learned to be grateful no matter what

happened in my life.

"Say thank you!" Those words from my friend and mentor

Maya Angelou turned my life around. One day about ten

years ago, I was sitting in my bathroom with the door

closed and the toilet lid down, booing and ahooing on

the phone so uncontrollably that I was incoherent.

"Stop it! Stop it right now and say thank you!" Maya

chided. "But - you don't understand," I sobbed.

To this day, I can't remember what it was that had me

so far gone, which only proves the point Maya was

trying to make. "I do understand," she told me. "I

want to hear you say it now. Out loud. 'Thank you.'"

Tentatively, I repeated it: "Thank you - but what am I

saying thank you for?" "You're saying thank you," Maya

said, "because your faith is so strong that you don't

doubt that whatever the problem, you'll get through

it.  You're saying thank you because you know that

even in the eye of the storm, God has put a rainbow in

the clouds. You're saying thank you because you  know

there's no problem created that can compare to the

Creator of all things. Say thank you!"

So I did - and still do. Only now I do it every day.

I kept a gratitude journal, as Sarah Ban Breathnach

suggests in Simple Abundance, listing at least five

things that I'm grateful for. My list includes small

pleasures: the feel of Kentucky bluegrass under my

feet (like damp silk); a walk in the woods with all

nine of my dogs and my cocker spaniel Sophie trying to

keep up; cooking fried green tomatoes with Stedman and

eating them while they're hot; reading a good book and

knowing another awaits.

My thank-you list also includes things too important

to take for granted: an "okay" mammogram, friends who

love me, 15 years at the same job (and loving it more

than the first day I started), a chance to share my

vision for a better life, staying centered, having

financial security. I won't kid you, having money for

all the things I want is a blessing. But as I look

back over my journals, which I've kept since I was 15

years old, 99 per cent of what brought me real joy had

nothing to do with money. (It had a lot to do with

food, however.)

It's not easy being grateful all the time. But it's

when you feel least thankful that you are most in need

of what gratitude can give you: PERSPECTIVE. Just

knowing you have that daily list to complete allows

you to look at your day differently, with an awareness

of every sweet gesture and kind thought passed your

way. When you learn to say thank you, you see the

world anew. And as Meister Eckhart so eloquently

stated:

"If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life

is 'Thank you', that would suffice."